Detroit ? The Detroit Pistons seem to be slipping from great to good, leading to questions about a nucleus that has been kept together since winning a title in 2004 and a coach that had a tough act to follow.

Detroit dropped out of the playoffs on the road in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year after consecutive trips to the NBA finals.

“The season’s a failure,” Rasheed Wallace said after the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated Detroit with a 98-82 win Saturday night.

Wallace’s teammates and the rest of the franchise would probably agree with his blunt assessment.

The Pistons earned top seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the second straight year and seemed to be rolling with a 7-0 start, matching a franchise record.

Then, they lost two of the last three games against the Chicago Bulls in the second round and collapsed against the Cavs, blowing a 2-0 lead in the conference finals for just the third time in NBA history.

“I don’t really care about that,” Chauncey Billups said. “I’m just mad we lost four straight games to a team that I felt wasn’t better than us.

“But obviously, they were better than us this week.”

To keep up with their Central Division rivals, the Pistons might be forced to shake up a roster that has had a lot of success. Wallace, Billups, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince created the kind of continuity rarely seen in professional sports.

The Pistons won a championship, fell just short of repeating, and advanced to the conference finals five straight years – a streak trailing only one team over the past 20-plus years.

But Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars was unhappy about the way the season unraveled in the playoffs, and he’s an executive with a history of making bold moves.

Dumars fired Rick Carlisle after two successful seasons and bought out Larry Brown following two straight trips to the NBA finals.

Coach Flip Saunders set a franchise record by winning 117 games in his first two regular seasons, beating Brown’s mark by nine games and Carlisle’s by 17. But the Pistons fell short of expectations and their goals in both of their postseasons with a coach that struggled in the playoffs with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“He’s in a tough situation,” Billups said. “Could he have done some things differently? Probably so. Could I? Yeah. So could Sheed and Tay and go down the line. It’s unfair to point the finger at one person.”